A WORKINGTON father has called for a pedestrian crossing to be placed on the A596 at Asda after his daughter was hit by a car and hospitalised.

Pat Carr has called for the crossing and some speed prevention measures to be placed on the A596 by the popular Dunmail Park Retail Park after his daughter Summer was taken to hospital with a broken ankle following the collision on Saturday, March 11.

Mr Carr received a call on Saturday afternoon from Summer’s friend to say she had been run over close to Asda, alongside one of her friends, whilst on the way to a fair.

Luckily, there were no life threatening injuries, however Summer was hospitalised following the accident and has had to have surgery on her broken ankle to repair the damage.

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Mr Carr said: “She never even got to the fair. I heard her on the phone to one of her friends (whilst in hospital) saying she was four steps away from having the best day of her life at the fair and she has had the worst day of her life.

“She had to get up off the road on the fracture that has turned out to be as bad as it is, so she didn’t get hit again.”

The Workington father is now calling for traffic calming measures and a safe crossing to be placed in the area to stop accidents like this happening in the future.

He said: “It’s not the best place to be crossing anyway because you are getting three ways of traffic.

“We are just grateful for the fact that the girls are okay, and grateful for the fact that the driver was okay.

“If there was a pedestrian crossing in place then no-one would have to worry.

"It’s just too well used at the minute with all the shopping that is going there, local transport is on the opposite side of the road, it’s an area where the fair and the circus is used.

“I know there has been fatal accidents on there in the past, I don’t know if exactly in that area or not, but I think on a road like that something needs to be in place to slow something down in that area and a crossing as well.

“It could save someone’s life in the future. At the end of the day, I have got my daughter, and if there is anything I can do to stop something like this or worse happening again then I will be quite happy about that."

Speaking from hospital, 11-year-old Summer said: “I think that there should be a zebra crossing and some traffic lights to stop this from happening to anyone again.”

Mr Carr also wished to thank the police, paramedics and off duty paramedics and doctors who assisted on the day of the crash, making sure that the two girls were cared for.

A Cumbria County Council spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to learn of the road incident on the A596, and we wish the girls involved a speedy recovery.

"If anyone has concerns about the roads in their vicinity and feels that areas of the road need to be made safer,  they should get in touch with the Cumbria Road Safety Partnership.”